The Travel Vertical

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Announcing: The Annual eTourism Summit Listening Tour

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“We’re all ears”

We’re all ears.

An interview with Jake Steinman, founder of the eTourism Summit about the upcoming Listening Tour on April 30 to June 7, 2018.

Q: What is a Listening Tour?

A: eTourism Summit is a tactics-based conference that’s designed like a magazine that comes to life with sessions covering a variety of topics of differing lengths. I’ve found that the best trends and ideas for content come from the attendees who live and breathe digital marketing for their destinations and attractions every day. So I began the Listening Tour by calling the most savvy people I knew in digital.

Q: When did you begin the listening tour?

A: The first year was 2013 and while most conference organizers solicit conference session topics from speakers, our approach was completely the opposite. When I began listening to attendees the content ideas just began to flow naturally.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that over a 6-8 week period so many forward thinking digital marketers were willing to share their thoughts and challenges with me.  But by the end, after conversations with 30-40 people were finished, patterns begin to form with key themes and content needs bubbled to the surface.

Q: What are some of the ideas you’re working on this year that come from those you’ve spoken with so far?

A: This year I will be conducting the Listening Tour with former Visit Florida CEO Will Seccombe, who is President of Connect Travel, the new owners of eTourism Summit.  From conversations with our Advisory Board members we have about 10 tactical session ideas and 13 potential attendee case studies that we will be inviting.  We’ll release the content ideas each week through our social media channels. 

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Q: When will you begin the listening tour?

A: It will go from April 30-June 7.  Those interested in participating can contact me at jake@visitnaj.com.

Breaking News: Connect Marketing Acquires eTourism Summit

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To: eTourism Summit Community & The Travel Vertical Readers
From: Jake Steinman 

I’m delighted to inform you that I’ve sold the eTourism Summit to Connect Marketing, a division of Tarsus International, a UK-based B2B exhibition company with more than 150 events worldwide.                                                                                                                                                                    

Will Seccombe, an eTourism Summit board member and former president & CEO of Visit Florida, is the president of Connect Marketing and will continue the tradition and tone of eTourism Summit. Our intention is to take a successful event and continue to evolve it so that it remains as relevant 18 years from now as it was in 2000 when we started. I will remain involved as chief of content and Chairman Emeritus.

The press release follows.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONNECT MARKETING ACQUIRES eTOURISM SUMMIT

ATLANTA, March 27, 2018 — Connect Marketing, a division of Connect (a Tarsus Group company), has acquired the eTourism Summit from North American Journeys, Inc. Founded in 2000, eTourism Summit is the leading event and community that connects destination marketing professionals with best practices and innovations in digital media.

Connect Marketing’s mission is to connect marketers with the products, services, people and ideas necessary to thrive in a rapidly evolving and highly competitive global marketplace. The acquisition of eTourism Summit supports this growing mission.

The restricted attendance format of the eTourism Summit balances demand for delegate spots with the deep networking opportunities in an intimate learning environment. Peer-to-peer sharing is integral to the aims, benefits and actionable takeaways for those who attend.

“Jake Steinman and his team have built a world-class event with a tight community of tech-savvy tourism marketers,” said Will Seccombe, president of Connect Marketing. “We believe that the addition of the eTourism Summit to the Connect Marketing portfolio of events will provide the tourism and hospitality marketing community with an unparalleled thought leadership and networking platform.”

Attendees at the eTourism Summit get up-to-the-minute, real-life examples of the latest applications in video, content marketing, email marketing, search, social media, mobile and web design. They learn how fellow tourism marketers and their media agencies are using the newest tools to build incremental traffic at every stage of the funnel.

“eTourism Summit connects the travel industry with Silicon Valley,” said Jake Steinman, founder of eTourism Summit. Not only do attendees receive critical information on the latest trends in e-mail marketing, search, social media, mobile and web design, but they also learn how tourism marketers are using new tools to uncover new growth. I am thrilled that the event will now be part of the Connect business, and I look forward to working with the team to make the event even more valuable to the community.”

“We look forward to working with Jake, his team and the Advisory Board to ensure that the eTourism Summit continues to be the premier educational conference for digitally focused tourism marketers,” said Seccombe.

Registration is open for the 19th annual eTourism Summit in San Francisco, Oct. 10-11, 2018.  For more information, please visit www.etourismsummit.com.

CONNECT Marketing

Connect Marketing is the marketing division of Connect, serving marketers with bleeding-edge thinking, cutting-edge strategy and industry best practices through immersive and engaging educational events. We connect marketers with the products, services, people and ideas that allow them to thrive in a rapidly evolving and highly competitive global marketplace. For more information, visit connectmarketinglive.com.

CONNECT/Tarsus Group

Connect is a leader in the meetings, travel and tourism industry. Specializing in destination marketing, the company produces a full suite of digital programs, online and mobile solutions, meetings business and travel magazines, trade shows and consumer events, travel guides for newspapers and leisure magazines and destination information, which is distributed through broadcast and custom programs. More information about the company’s brands and services is available at connectmeetings.com. Connect is part of U.K.-based Tarsus Group, a business-to-business exhibition company with more than 150 events worldwide.

North American Journeys

North American Journeys is the leading event and media company offering a suite of products for the tourism and travel industry. Visit www.northamericanjourneys.com for more information.

Kind regards,

 

 

 

Notes From #eTS17: Digital Tourism Marketing is Growing Up

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Digital tourism marketing is no longer a kid, yet still a teenager who doesn’t quite know what to be when it grows up.

At our 18th Annual eTourism Summit last week, around 250 members of our community reflected on what adulthood will require for our craft and what we’ll be talking about by the time our 21st birthday arrives. 

Overheard at #eTS17: “Organic is a word you’ll only find in Whole Foods.”

Here’s a quick glimpse of five overarching themes among the things we learned. Stay tuned for more takeaways in our weekly newsletter TheTravelVertical.com and tweet your thoughts for sharing at #eTS17:

  • AI is the trickiest AND the most promising technology for DMOs. Google’s Kyle Duffy says the “mobile first” mantra has shifted to “voice first” and “uber speed” and that machine learning is changing the way search surfaces content. P.S. That’s both good and bad.

 

  • We’re living in a (snackable) video world NOW…And when in doubt, put your efforts into filming cute animals.

 

  • Authenticity (still) matters. Will Seccombe explained why the public’s massive lack of trust in institutions presents a huge opportunity for DMOs.

 

  • Educate and inspire at every stage of the funnel because shareable activities and experiences (read: emotional connection) beat “deals” every time. Oh, and remember, Facebook has at least 100 personal data points for re-targeting.

 

  • Millennials are older than you think.

 

Watch for participants’ Key Takeaways from eTourism Summit 2017 in a future issue of The Travel Vertical.

 

And that concludes the 18th Annual eTourism Summit.

Thank you all so much for being here and for being such an important part of our wonderful community.

See you at #eTS18.

-Jake Steinman

Sojern Sit Down: Jake Steinman Discusses Hurdles Facing Today’s Tourism Industry

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Looking back with the man who looks forward…

Have you ever wondered how Jake Steinman got involved in the tourism industry with his own brands in what he likes to call “the toy box of life”?

Sojern‘s Content Marketing Associate Marissa Rasmussen recently sat down with Jake to talk about the gaps that shaped his vision for the eTourism Summit and some of the hurdles facing tourism today.

Read the interview here.

 

Entering the Next Stage in the Evolution of eTourism Summit

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We’re turning 18! In past years, eTourism Summit has been focused on emerging digital marketing platforms as they grew into giants: Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and others.

Delivering What You Want

But now that the duopoly of Facebook and Google have emerged and grown increasingly expensive and dictatorial, you are telling us how you’re adjusting to the landscape. At eTourism Summit, you want a venue where you can see how cohorts are using digital platforms in the most efficient ways. You also want to meet alternative media providers who can help you become more efficient through personalization, targeting, and measurement.

Peers and Relationships Matter

In short, just five years ago eTourism Summit delegates wanted to meet and learn from the major digital companies; today they want to learn from each other.

Following three months of intensive sleuthing, we’re excited. We’ve identified nearly 30 destinations and attractions whose organizations have allowed  them the freedom to explore new campaign ideas, new technology, new providers, and innovative ways to distribute their content AND to share their findings at eTourism Summit in October. Our community has become a collection of the smartest, most advanced people in travel and tourism, who attend eTS to learn. They explore what has worked and what hasn’t, what’s affordable and what isn’t…and return to their offices with fresh ideas, refreshed relationships, and new innovative technology vendors who have been vetted by their peers.

Fresh, Innovative Approaches

Our goal in bringing together the most forward thinkers, the early adopters, and the agencies with relevant experience across multiple clients is to provide value by helping eTS attendees mitigate the risk of wading into uncharted waters that can otherwise easily become a money pit.

The program at eTourism Summit is a continual work-in-progress and we are always looking for new ideas and innovative tech companies.

If you, or anyone you know, is embarking on a new campaign or technology, please contact me directly at jake@visitnaj.com.

P.S.: You can count on us to continue our irreverent tone and our commitment to help DMOs advance in their careers.

This year’s enhancements at eTourism Summit include:

  • Executive Coaching: Complimentary and confidential by a consultant who works with clients at Twitter and nonprofits.*
  • Drunken UX Website Testing: Back by popular demand, as a feature of our opening reception.
  • Emotive Websites: How do you really feel about your website? Sign up for a free demo as the director of the Vivint Neuromarketing SMART LAB, connects you to an EEG machine while you navigate your own website.

(* True enough, Twitter is an accidental nonprofit…)

Looking forward to seeing you in October,
Jake

Jake Steinman
Founder and CEO
NAJ Group

*** See the Provisional Agenda and Register for eTourism Summit today ***

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Laurie Jo Miller Farr, Editor
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